Ohio workers who are curious about how the safety of their jobs ranks among others may be interested in a report from the National Employment Law Project. An evaluation of data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration shows that based on reported severe injuries from January 2015 to September 2016, workers employed in the chicken and meat processing industry are at a high risk of incurring them.
For that period, OSHA was notified of 180 severe injuries by poultry processing companies. The report states that the results make poultry processing twelfth among industries in terms of employer severe injury reporting.
According to the report, there were two chicken and meat processing companies out of 14,000 firms in 29 states that reported injuries during the period and that ranked in the top 10 with the highest count of severe injuries. Tyson Foods was ranked fourth, and JBS/Pilgrim’s Pride was ranked sixth. The report also stated that Cargill, a company that provides poultry and meat processing services as well, had the fourteenth highest number of reported injuries for the 21-month period.
A press release issued by NELP stated that even though the implementation of the OSHA safety rules established over the previous 45 years has helped, the poultry industry still has a long way to go. Its severe injury count is higher than that of other high-risk industries, such as steel, saw mill and automobile manufacturing.
Most people who are injured on the job are eligible to file a claim for workers’ compensation benefits. Many find it advisable to have the assistance of an attorney when doing so.